You have often heard the term "laser quality"
used in a sentence when describing an Inkjet printer, usually to fool you into thinking
that you are getting more than you actually receive. In the case of the DeskJet 1000C by
Hewlett Packard, the term "laser quality" is an understatement.

Step 1...Getting it out of that big container

After unpacking the bulky DeskJet 1000C from its
large box I quickly plugged it into my computer's parallel port and using the thin power
cable (no huge and annoying AC adapter to mess with like previous HP DeskJet printers) I
plugged it into a socket. Upon firing up the 1000C I quickly realized that the cartridges
it required (1 B/W + 1 Color) were identical to those required by the HP 850C, that seemed
to me like a huge let down, a printer that costs about $100 more than a 850C but uses the
exact same cartridges...well, it turned out that it wasn't a big let down. Windows 95
immediately detected my new printer as a HP DeskJet 1000C and prompted me for the
installation CD upon startup, for those of you that are running without CDROM drives
Hewlett Packard has been kind enough to include a floppy version of the drivers. If, for
some reason, you don't have access to the drivers, the HP 850C drivers work flawlessly
with the 1000C.

Included with the DeskJet 1000C is a nice
software/productivity bundle, including an interactive Starter CD, a User's Guide, Idea
Booklet, Print Samples, and some 11" x 17" paper to play around with since the
1000C can accept quite a large selection of paper sizes courtesy of the two conveniently
selectable paper trays. Like its home office predecessors (i.e. 600 series), the
Professional 1000 Series of HP printers allows the user the option of printing banners,
without any third party software add-ons. A nice sheet of 13" x 19" paper comes
pretty darn close to a banner just incase you don't feel like grabbing some full length
sheets. Loading the 1000C with paper wasn't all that hard of a task, just slide out the
tray, arm it with a stack of paper, and push the tray back in for a snug fit.

Let's fire it up

The Starter CD packaged with the 1000C is truly
excellent resource, it walks you through just about every aspect of using your new printer
and also allows you to print some sample files, to show off your new investment.

The 1000C's excellent software
support package makes it stand out among the competition

To the left you can see the startup screen
you get upon inserting the Win95 compatible CDROM that comes with the 1000C. From this
screen you have the option of installing the printer drivers. Along with that, you have
the choice to view the user's guide (see right) which is basically a fancier version of
the written documentation provided with the printer. The idea booklet is sort of a 101
things to do on a rainy day guide for use with your printer. It features ideas and how-to
suggestions on making "productive" use of the 1000C's capabilities. For example,
because of the 1000C's excellent color matching capabilities and high resolution output,
you are able to print colorful and artistic calendars which can brighten up any work area.
The print samples included with this sampler CD were the ones I used to benchmark the
1000C's lightning fast printing speed which almost rivals that of a much more expensive
laser printer. The software support package included with the 1000C makes it an even
better value and gives it that extra edge over other printers.

The user's guide walks you
through many time consuming and tedious tasks involved with setting
up and operating your printer.